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What's a Wreck?

A Cake Wreck is any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate - you name it. A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it's simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons. Anyone who has ever smeared frosting on a baked good has made a Wreck at one time or another, so I'm not here to vilify decorators: Cake Wrecks is just about finding the funny in unexpected, sugar-filled places.

This is a hand-dug well in the Sendedo Village, located in Tigray, Ethiopia. The village has about 200 people in it, and this well marks the first time they've had access to clean local drinking water. (In the past, the women and children walked up to two hours a day to collect their water, which was often polluted and would make them sick.)

"Ok," you're thinking, "that's nice. But what does it have to do with Cake Wrecks?"

I'll show you:

We did this, guys. You, me, and every single reader who contributed their dollar (or more) to our charity: water campaign during our 2009 Charity Countdown! Right now there's a well on the other side of the world because you guys sacrificed, gave, and refused to believe that your dollar was "just" a dollar.

Wait. Did I say "a" well?

Because I meant four wells.

You heard me: we wreckies completely funded two new wells, and partially funded two others.

And in true Wrecky fashion, they even misspelled our name on the second well:

Woot! Cake Wreeks!

This is the Mai Minshik Village, also located in Tigray, Ethiopia. It has about 225 people living in it.

Oh, and the folks at charity: water included this note:

"You might be wondering why we put a photo of a door in your report. We include it because this village is serious about maintaining their project and keeping it clean. They built a fence and a door on their own accord, to keep animals out and to show ownership of their new water source."

The other two wells are located at the Tigray elementary school and the Tigray high school, and cost more than four times what the hand-dug wells cost - over $15,000 each - because they are drilled and include hand washing stations for the children and separate bathrooms for the girls and boys:

This isn't just about health and dignity, either; it's about helping the girls in particular get an education:

"Girls in developing countries miss up to a week of class each month, or even drop out of school, when they hit puberty because they don’t have a private place to use the bathroom or wash at school."

Together we gave over $3,200 towards the Adi Chigar Elementary School project, and over $2,600 toward the Slaw High School project. That means that, all together, we gave a total of $12,874 and helped nearly 1,600 people in this community have clean drinking water for life.

And I should mention that was just one day of our Countdown; charity: water was only one out of fourteen organizations that we featured.

Not bad for a group of snarky malcontents who like cake, eh?

You can hit the links above to see more photos of each project and learn more about each village and their well. You'll also find a list of the individual donors, if you'd like to see which project your dollar went towards.

And, in all seriousness, guys, I can't look at that first plaque without getting a little (ok, a lot) emotional. Thanks for letting me be a part of this with you.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled wreck-fest.

UPDATE: The lovely folks at chartity:water made us a video thank you card! Check it out:

Reader Comments (219)

This brought tears to my eyes and made my heart happy! How fantastic! And? You have to love the fact that they spelled the name wrong on the 2nd sign. lol Great job "Wreekies" on being the change you want to see in the world!

Thank you for following up and finding out where the money went. I've been a part of building wells in India, and my field is international education, so everything in this project really touches my heart. There are so many obstacles to girls' education; I'm proud of us for removing one of those obstacles for the girls in those two communities. Way to go Wrekkies!

This post moved me to tears. Great job Cake Wreckers who participated. We found Cake Wrecks right after your finished the campaign but I second the challenge that you do this again. Our family would definately participate.

Thank you for saying that $1 makes a difference! I've always said that giving something, however small the amount, is better than giving nothing at all. I never have much to give, but I always give what I can. Have you check out The Girl Effect?

How UPLIFTING is this!?!! Tears of happiness, especially for the girls! Something as simple as a tap with clean running water and a place to wash = dignity and an education. I'm in awe and deeply moved...

Someone's kid LIVES because they have access to clean drinking water. There's a mother somewhere in those villages who won't have to bury her babies because they drank contaminated water. Kids get to have an education because of access to modern sanitation.And WHO KNOWS what those kids will be capable of -- all because they could go to school and drink water and open doors to Who. Knows. What....Who knows if one of these kids might be the one to help solve even one of the world's problems.

THIS POST alone makes everything Jen and John have done worthwhile...and that Just One Dollar will now touch so many lives.

Yay us!! Thank you so much for giving us this opportunity to share. Ya'll help make the world a better place. It is wonderful to see how giving just a little bit by a caring group of slightly crazed lovers of cakewrecks is put to use!!

Your posts have made me laugh, and now they've made me cry. Happy tears of course. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to come together and provide clean water for those in need. It's exactly what I needed today.